After Count Nefaria’s disruption beam destroyed their
aircraft last issue, the X-Men were left to freefall to their deaths! Cyclops
quickly devises a plan and tells Nightcrawler to teleport down. However,
Nightcrawler tells him that he retains velocity when he teleports, so he would
still die teleporting down from this height. Colossus elects to get down on his
own by crash landing while Storm and Banshee, the fliers, carry the rest safely
to the ground. Banshee needs to leave Cyclops behind, as he can’t carry two
people at once. Cyclops eagerly awaits Banshee’s return and counts down the
seconds until impact, getting saved right in the nick of time! Once on the
ground, Nightcrawler teleports inside the base and is quickly intercepted by
Frog-Man, one of the Ani-Men. Nightcrawler teleports behind his foe and easily
takes him out, taking him prisoner while he searches for the controls to open
the entrance hatch.
While Nightcrawler opens the hatch, Frog-Man escapes
and the rest of the X-Men enter the base. As the X-Men make their way through
the base, suddenly the corridor is filled with a blinding, choking gas,
courtesy of Count Nefaria. The X-Men smash through to the next corridor to
escape the gas, where they are met with opposition in the form of the base’s
soldiers, hypnotized by Nefaria. Colossus shields the others from the soldiers’
bullets, while Storm whips up an impressive wind and floods the base, washing
the soldiers away and decisively dealing with them without harming them.
Further into the base, the Ani-Men suddenly ambush the X-Men, as Gort, the
Ape-Man, quickly takes out both Thunderbird and Banshee. The rest of the X-Men
battle the Ani-Men but, still weary from the gas, find themselves at a
disadvantage.
Wolverine is saved from the Cat-Man by Colossus, as
Cyclops and Nightcrawler take out each other’s enemy. Storm fries the Ape-Man,
allowing Nightcrawler and Wolverine to work together to take him out. Finally,
Dragonfly tries to hypnotize Cyclops, but in doing so, gets blasted by his
optic beam. With their foes defeated, they make their way to find and shut down
the Doomsmith system, while electing to leave Thunderbird and Banshee behind. When
they find it, they also find that Nefaria has engaged the self-destruct
sequence, meaning the entire base is going to blow sky high soon! Banshee and
Thunderbird regain consciousness and intercept Nefaria trying to flee in a
small aircraft. Thunderbird jumps aboard the plane while Banshee pleads for him
to get off so he can stop the plane with a sonic blast.
Back with the other X-Men, Cyclops tries to figure out
how to disarm the Doomsmith system, when suddenly Professor X psychically calls
to him. Xavier tells Cyclops that their battle with the Ani-Men put the entire
system out of commission, as well as the self-destruct sequence. He then tells
them that they’re needed outside, where Thunderbird is in the process of
destroying Nefaria’s plane. Thunderbird’s pride won’t let him stop and he
eventually succeeds in stopping the plane. However, this causes the plane to
crash in a stunning explosion, killing Thunderbird in the process, while Xavier
psychically feels every bit of agony, refusing to leave Thunderbird in his
final moments. As the X-Men witness the wreckage, Banshee tells how he pleaded
for Thunderbird to get off the plane, and Cyclops tells him he did everything
he could, and that this kind of thing is a risk they all face in this line of
work. It comes with the uniform.